Martin (1977)
June 6, 2026
Martin earns its 8 by asking a question that quietly dismantles the entire vampire genre. What if there is no such thing as a vampire, only a disturbed young man who believes he is one?
Tag: American Decay
Some stories chronicle America rusting: dead malls, hollowed towns, and dreams past their warranty. This tag collects reviews of films and fiction about American decline, and the elegies hiding inside the genre pieces.
1970sThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
May 19, 2026
Tobe Hooper's 1974 verite slasher. Leatherface, sledgehammer dinner, fifteen-thousand-dollar budget.
1940sMeet John Doe (1941)
May 19, 2026
Meet John Doe is Frank Capra's 1941 American political drama about a newspaper columnist who invents a fictional everyman who threatens to commit suicide on Christmas Eve in protest against social injustice, and who must then find a real person…
1960sThe Apartment (1960)
May 19, 2026
An ambitious insurance clerk lends his apartment to executives for their affairs, until he falls for the boss's mistress at Christmas. The Apartment is Billy Wilder's 1960 American comedy-drama about an ambitious insurance company clerk who lends his Manhattan apartment…
2010sIt Follows (2014)
May 19, 2026
David Robert Mitchell's allegorical horror where a sexually transmitted curse manifests as a slow-moving figure visible only to the victim. It Follows is David Robert Mitchell's 2014 American supernatural horror film depicting a young woman who, after a sexual encounter,…
1990sCandyman (1992)
May 19, 2026
Bernard Rose adapts Clive Barker's story about a graduate student researching an urban legend that summons a hook-handed killer. Candyman is Bernard Rose's 1992 American supernatural horror film adapted from Clive Barker's short story 'The Forbidden', depicting a graduate student…
1980sNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
May 19, 2026
Chechik's 1989 American comedy depicting Clark Griswold's plans for a perfect family Christmas at his suburban Chicago home, which unravel through extended-family chaos, holiday catastrophe, and a frozen pool that becomes the screenplay's central comic obsession. Christmas Vacation is the…
2000sBad Santa (2003)
May 19, 2026
A drunken con artist working seasonal Santa jobs robs department stores on Christmas Eve and reluctantly bonds with a strange child. Bad Santa is Terry Zwigoff's 2003 American black comedy depicting Willie Soke, an alcoholic safecracker who works seasonal Santa…
1980sTrading Places (1983)
May 19, 2026
Trading Places is John Landis's 1983 American comedy depicting two wealthy commodity brokers who place a one-dollar wager on whether a homeless con artist and an Ivy League executive can be switched places without either knowing about the experiment, with…
1980sThey Live (1988)
May 19, 2026
A drifter discovers sunglasses that reveal the wealthy elite are alien creatures controlling humanity through subliminal messaging. They Live is John Carpenter's 1988 American science-fiction horror film depicting a drifter who discovers sunglasses that reveal the wealthy elite are alien…
1980sRoger & Me (1989)
May 19, 2026
Michael Moore's 1989 directorial debut. GM CEO Roger Smith and Flint Michigan plant closures.
2010sO.J.: Made in America (2016)
May 19, 2026
Simpson trial through race-and-celebrity prism. Won Oscar despite TV format.